Across the 2nd highest top on Hareidlandet
Index
| Date | Peak | Height | PF | Location | WCP/FP | MAP |
| 12.02.25 | Kongsvollen | 683m | 200m | Hareid/Ulstein, Norway | WCP | MAP |
Wednesday: What’s up with this weather? These are crazy days. Absolutely stunning. I quit work 3:30pm (I started before 7am) and decided to drive to Ringstaddalen and hike Kongsvollen – the 2nd highest top on Hareidlandet island.
We started out around 4pm and I knew that it would take us roughly one hour to the top and that we would have good daylight within this hour.
Karma wasn’t much interested in my company but stayed loyal to the perimeter she’s allowed to operate within. We have a good arrangement. We both want to see each other all the time.
I was happy to get to lake Hundelaupsvatnet. The lake marks the end of the somewhat boring main ascent. From here on, it’s only 200+ vertical meters to the top, in a nice mountain terrain.
The entire mountainside below the lake was in the shade and now my primary focus was to get a piece of sunshine before it went away.
I loved the deep red color…
Looking back, there was Blåtind on the other side of the lake. Blåtind (697m) is the highest top on the island and we visited that top one week ago.
A little bit later, we reached the top of Kongsvollen.
Ah – the full moon! Love it!
But now what? Returning the same way would be a little boring and there was a lot of ice on the trail. How about just continuing across the top, descend “Bukketrappene”, go off-trail into Løsetbotnen and take it from there? But first, I would have to take a look down the ridge.
The ridge looked indeed doable. I didn’t expect there to be a lot of ice under the snow, but I took the dog on a leash just to make sure she went the same way I did. She can fall in behind me if she thinks I really mean it, but her favorite position is alongside and that can be awkward on a ridge this narrow.
The descent down the steepest section went just fine.
Suddenly, I realized that one can probably go hiking in the Sunnmøre alps now…
Eventually, it was time to leave the ridge.
Going off-trail into Løsetbotnen involves a steep forest in the beginning and it was quite icy too. But we found a good route and were soon down in easier terrain.
Down in Løsetbotnen, I had to come up with a plan for the rest of the hike. I could locate the nearest path and follow it to Løset and take the road from there on.
But I decided to continue off-trail towards Ringstadbotnen.
When we reached the main trail from Ringstadbotnen to Løset, we followed it for a little while. But when it started to go in the wrong direction, we continued off-trail. A few minutes later, we stumbled onto a path I didn’t knew about and we followed it.
This path took us down to the bridge in Grådalen. This route saved us from boring 1,7km along the main road. But eventually, there was no escape from the main road.
It was quite chilly by now. I had two layers of wool and a Gore-Tex jacket, and Karma had barely any hair left. How could she not freeze? She looked totally OK though…
Trip statistics: 9,4km, 675 vertical meters, 2h:34m
Pictures (Canon EOS RP/Iphone 13 Pro Max) from the hike:
